Long-sought Melrose Drive link could open by August

CARLSBAD -- A once-bitter battle over a major roadway project
that will link Carlsbad and Vista is about to come to an end.

The Carlsbad City Council is expected to vote on an agreement
Tuesday that could allow the newest segment of Melrose Drive to
open by early August. Keenly sought by Vista officials, the new
quarter-mile segment, which is immediately north of Palomar Airport
Road, will allow commuters a new route between Vista's courthouse
complex region and Carlsbad's business park area.

"Well, it's about time," said Carlsbad's Mayor Bud Lewis as he
discussed the Melrose Drive agenda item on Friday.

Vista leaders think it's long past time.

"I'm very pleased that it will open," said Mayor Morris Vance,
adding that acrimony between the two communities has dissipated of
late as the roadway project has neared completion. "It's not only
just Vista (that will benefit from Melrose Drive opening). Melrose
has been planned as a major thoroughfare."

Some folks are holding off on celebrating.

"We've been told so many times, I don't believe it (now)," said
Steve Brooks, owner of It's a Grind Coffee House in Vista.

His coffee shop is a block from the current spot where Melrose
dead ends at the Vista city limits and he goes out daily to watch
the construction on what will be the new roadway beyond the
dead-end barricades, he said.

Years ago, Vista took Carlsbad to court over the roadway issue.
As part of the settlement agreement, Carlsbad was required to open
this new section of Melrose at the same time as a new extension of
Faraday Avenue. At the time, Vista officials worried that Faraday
would open first and increase their traffic problems. Instead, work
on Melrose will be completed first, so the legal settlement was
revisited.

Vista's City Council signed off on a new agreement June 27
allowing Carlsbad to open Melrose before Faraday. Now, it's
Carlsbad council's turn to vote on the deal.

Lewis said he's in favor of it provided it doesn't cause
Carlsbad significant traffic problems. Lewis said he'll be
reviewing a staff report over the weekend to make certain that's
the case.

Included in the council's agenda package Friday, the staff
report states that an eight-month delay is expected between when
Melrose could open and when Faraday will be ready.

"Based on the eight-month difference between road opening dates,
staff does not anticipate significant increase in regional traffic
volumes," the report says.

City Engineer Skip Hammann, who produced the report, said Friday
that the work on the new section of Melrose is mostly done, except
for a new left-turn lane on Palomar Airport Road. The last steps
will be laying down the roadway striping and reprogramming the
area's traffic signals.

"That would be done right before we open the road," Hammann
said.

Work also is planned to smooth the transition between the new
Melrose Drive area and the existing section of Melrose -- the
Calavera Hills portion south of Palomar Airport Road -- but the new
roadway can open even though that project will take about six
months, he said.